Apple is making a big change to Siri’s leadership within the company. Per Mark Gurman, former Vision Pro head Mike Rockwell will now be in charge. While this might seem like an odd fit, the best part of the move may actually have little to do with Rockwell specifically, and more what it says about Apple’s priorities.
Mike Rockwell’s Vision Pro experience doesn’t make him a natural Siri choice
My biggest initial reaction to today’s news was likely the same one you had: surprise at Mike Rockwell being the newly chosen Siri head.
Yes, Apple really is trusting the Vision Pro guy with the future of Siri.
Rockwell has led Apple’s ‘Vision Products Group’ for years, with no AI background to speak of.
Despite that, there are some encouraging tidbits in Gurman’s report about Rockwell’s qualifications. For example, “When developing the Vision Pro, Rockwell believed that Siri could be a central way to control the $3,499 device.” Also:
Rockwell hasn’t been shy about criticizing Siri, according to people familiar with the matter. For years, he has pitched senior vice presidents on ideas for overhauling the voice assistant to make it more personalized.
The main reason I’m happy about today’s news, though, isn’t specific to Rockwell himself.
I think the best thing about this move is that Siri is finally getting the attention it deserves from a top-tier Apple leader.
Siri now has a major Apple leader focused solely on making it the best AI assistant possible
Siri’s history within Apple has involved being punted from one executive to another.
Gurman summarizes the assistant’s tumultuous leadership:
Siri — the AI division’s main consumer product — has had a number of bosses over the years. When Apple first launched the voice assistant in 2011, it was overseen by software executive Scott Forstall. It was then given to services chief Eddy Cue in 2012 and transferred to the current software head, Federighi, in 2017. Giannandrea took it over a year later. Now it will be led by Rockwell, with oversight returning again to Federighi.
Federighi has previously been in charge of Siri—for a mere year—and technically will now have oversight again.
But that’s not as important as who will now be running Siri’s team day-to-day within Apple.
Mike Rockwell may not have an AI pedigree, but unlike other Siri managers in the past, he is a top leader within Apple.
He’s the person who developed and launched major hardware and software platforms for Apple. Rockwell is a big enough name that many outside the company know who he is.
And now, he’ll get to focus all of his time and energy on making Siri the best AI assistant it can be.
Top comment by Alex
Rockwell has led Apple’s ‘Vision Products Group’ for years, with no AI background to speak of.
Worth keeping in mind that what Apple calls spatial computing isn’t possible without a ton of ML and AI - computer vision, scene reconstruction, sensor fusion, etc are all very difficult ML tasks. They’re not conversational or LLM based, but it would be a mistake to say this guy hasn’t shipped products based on cutting edge ML research and development.
Rockwell’s appointment is good news because it shows Apple taking Siri more seriously than it has in a long time.
Making Rockwell the new leader represents a big shift in how much the company is valuing and prioritizing Siri.
Siri will not only be under the capable oversight of Craig Federighi. It will have a hands-on, dedicated, top-tier Apple leader who has Siri as his singular focus.
Will Rockwell prove the right person for the job? Time will tell, but Apple putting such a valuable leader in that role is in itself a very good thing.
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